5EAT Transmission fluid question

Its time to change out the fluid and I was wondering your thoughts on Amsoil's synthetic multi-vehicle transmission fluid or the supershift racing transmission fluid SAE 10W.

 

Also I'd like to change out the torque converter fluid, how do I go about doing this?

I have the 4eat and Amsoil ATF has worked great. A lot of people say that for the 5eat it is better to go with the Subaru ATF-HP.

NEVER put the 4eat fluid in the 5eat. Different viscosity, will cause problems.

nobody here is putting 4eat fluid in a 5eat. and with amsoil it wouldnt matter they both use the same fluid.

I'm running on Amsoil now and no problems.

 

To do a complete fluid swap, just disconnect the return line from the tranny. Start the car and let a couple or 3 quarts pump out, shut it off, top up, repeat until it comes out bright red. Should use about 10 quarts. Reconnect, take a drive to get up to operating temp and check the fluid level.

 

For 10 quarts it might be cheaper to buy a whole case of 12. There's a filter in the fender beside the battery if you want to change it, but it's not listed as a maintenance item. It'll make a mess.

How often should the fluid be replaced? On all the maintenance schedules I've seen it does not say. It just says to inspect it. I'm thinking 30,000 miles, correct?

I think the intervals, in kilometers, are 72k and 144k, but I'm not sure if one is check and the other is change, or if they're both change. That works out to 45k and 90k miles.

 

 

PS: Using black text is hard to read on the Dark vB - Fluid page style. In case you care.

I'm running on Amsoil now and no problems.

 

To do a complete fluid swap, just disconnect the return line from the tranny. Start the car and let a couple or 3 quarts pump out, shut it off, top up, repeat until it comes out bright red. Should use about 10 quarts. Reconnect, take a drive to get up to operating temp and check the fluid level.

 

For 10 quarts it might be cheaper to buy a whole case of 12. There's a filter in the fender beside the battery if you want to change it, but it's not listed as a maintenance item. It'll make a mess.

 

I am running the amsoil now as well, but believe it is the cause of my 5eat chattering/vibrating under part throttle. But I am not sure.

 

I will be taking it to the dealer shortly to have it looked at.

I have been running 3.5 quarts of the 4EAT ATF in my 5EAT for a year now. 3.5 is not dramatic out of the total 10. Nothing wrong with the tranny but I can tell the ATF needs changing already. Seems like it's spent.

ATF-HP designed for the 5EAT can be used in any and all Subaru trannies except CVT. It is also used for the power steering fluid.

Amsoil ATF is kick-ass.

Well looks like the amsoil has potentially ruined my 5eat. IF you run this stuff make sure it is okay to run this... I was told NUMEROUS times it would be, and in the end, it has cost me.

Well looks like the amsoil has potentially ruined my 5eat. IF you run this stuff make sure it is okay to run this... I was told NUMEROUS times it would be, and in the end, it has cost me.

 

I think we need a little more info than that pretty vague comment. Did you do a full flush or drain? Who did it? Details would be nice before you jump to the conclusion of "it's the fluid". I ran the same Amsoil ATF in my Saabaru Aero with a 16g, E85 and all the goodies and was making 260AWHP/255AWTQ and never had a problem and I beat the shit out of that thing. Not trying to call you out but something tells me it was not the fluid, but hey, I could be wrong.

Well after flushing out the amsoil and putting in the subaru fluid the chattering has improved. It hasn't totally gone away, but I imagine that until the fluid works its way through the transmission and clutch packs etc that it will continue to improve.

 

At the 30k mark, I had a local transmission shop that a friend of mine manages. His shop did the trans service, and put the fluid in for me. I tried researching all over to make sure the amsoil was okay to use. Their website says it was okay, as was the guy I bought the fluid from. After about 200 miles it began chattering and has gotten worse has time has gone on. Time will tell if this flush from the dealer with fresh subaru fluid improves or if their is potential damage from running the amsoil. Sorry about being vague, I am not knocking amsoil, I am more just curious why so many people have been able to run this fluid and had no issues, where as it has been nothing but a headache for me. I will report back with the progress as I put some more miles on this new fluid.

How do you know the chatter was caused by the ATF?

Amsoil IS compatible, as it has been proven in countless cases.

How did your friend do the flush? What kind of machine was used?

I have some tiger repellent powder. I sprinkle it every night around my house and it seems to be working great because I never see tigers around. See what I'm saying? Before we blame the Amsoil ATF, we need to exhaust every other probability.

The dealer did the flush the second time around. I don't know 100% that it was the fluid, but all signs so far point to it. chatter started after fluid was amsoil was added, dealer flushed out amsoil, added the factory fluid, chatter has minimized and seems to be improving. That is why I am pointing the amsoil.

 

What other probabilities do you think it could be?

Well, for one, that whatever is now mechanically wrong was already on it's way out prior to the flush, which only made the problem worse not due to the fluid, but due to flushing it. Or a flush done with a machine which forces the fluid in, or it may have been a reverse flush which screws things up. Contact Amsoil, they guarantee that their ATF will not cause problems when used properly and they do in fact say it is compatible with our trannies because, well, it is.

Did the dealer ever say what the cause was of the chatter?

They suggested the fluid as well, so either you are right, or my friends trans shops tech kept my amsoil and through in some regular atf not he atf-hp that the 5eat calls for. That is something I have thought of as being a possibility. My car only has 30k, so I found it odd that after the removal of the old fluid and adding the amsoil that the chatter suddenly started.

Some flush machines do a reverse flow, which can cause serious damage especially in modern trannies. Pressurizing fluid is also a bad idea when changing because it can damage the pump and other components. The best, safest flushing machine is the BG-type that basically lets the tranny exchange the fluid by it's own pump.

200 miles is basically impossible for any ATF to cause enough damage unless you beat on it or tracked it, or took you a really long time to rack them up. I drive 250 miles a week. I could probably run motor oil or differential fluid in the tranny for that long and still be OK.

The chatter "improved" on the stock tranny fluid only because it's masking it. The tranny fluid doesn't flow as good as synthetic ATF. Your problem is still there, I would try to diagnose what it is and based on that, determine what caused it.

Cool I will go back and ask what flushing process was used when the amsoil was added the first time.Thanks fishbone

I hope it works out for you because tranny issues are never fun.

Also, note that there have been other members here that have reported chatter, completely independent of fluid changes.

As far as I know Amsoil will cover damage directly proven to have been caused by their fluid. And I really hope your dealership isn't one of those that firmly believe synthetic motor oil is not OK to be used. You'll have a heck of a time fighting them for warranty coverage.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r161/glenmoormax/subarutrans.jpg

 

So far it has improved. I double checked with my buddy, he uses the same flushing system as subaru. Whatever the problem is, its going away or is ust being covered up as you were saying. Either way it drives for now, and my bad taste for subaru continues to grow. Completely stock LGT and they treat me like I highly modified it and will automatically deny me any coverage. BS.

Technically the only handful of fluids Subaru recognizes as being suitable are outlined in the owner manual. ATF-HP, Motul and some other brands IIRC. Amsoil is not on the list and they will never tell you "yes, go ahead and use that" because they don't want the risk exposure without having tested the fluid in house, which they have ZERO incentive of doing because it costs them money.

Amsoil has done the testing, has proven it works, people have proven it works by using it and dealers will stick to their guns and go by what SOA tells them, otherwise it's their ass on the line come warranty work.

If your chatter completely goes away then I can't think of any other conclusion than Amsoil really did not work for you for whatever strange reason. When I flushed the tranny fluid in my wife's car (not a Subaru), some people have complained about shift quality with Amsoil. I chose to go with Mobil 1 synthetic ATF for that reason.

The good news is you got two flushes so your tranny is good to go for a while

Yeah I don't know why I had such trouble. whatever the issue was I hope that its gone... I didn't mean to come off as blaming amsoil right off hand I was just frustrated yesterday. So far the car feels a lot better, so I am happy. I just wish there was a clear answer to this because if I had an issue I highly doubt I am the only one... Eitherway, I would just caution 5eat-amsoil users.

Amsoil ATF is great stuff, way better for shift consistency than OEM fluid.

Torque Converter shares fluid with the rest of the transmission. Only the front differential has a separate pool and type of fluid.

I'm running on Amsoil now and no problems.

 

To do a complete fluid swap, just disconnect the return line from the tranny. Start the car and let a couple or 3 quarts pump out, shut it off, top up, repeat until it comes out bright red. Should use about 10 quarts. Reconnect, take a drive to get up to operating temp and check the fluid level.

 

For 10 quarts it might be cheaper to buy a whole case of 12. There's a filter in the fender beside the battery if you want to change it, but it's not listed as a maintenance item. It'll make a mess.

 

Just curious if anyone has actually done tis method, I want to get all the old fluid out I can without doing the drain, and refill 3 time method.

never mind found climberD's walk through.